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Aug 28, 2007

I'm sad to report the beautiful River Dolphin has been officially declared extinct. The small cetacean made its home in China's Yangtze river but over development and over fishing has destroyed much of the dolphin's food supply and habitat. They were classified as endangered last year but an expedition this year was unable to yield any of them. Although there are bound to be a handful left, the definition of extinct extends to the fact that there aren't enough of them left to sustain a viable genetic pool.

The Chinese know the dolphin as Baiji and there are tons of folk-tales about a friendly fish that understood humans because it could breathe air. Unfortunately future generations will never see the Baiji in person. What a shame. What a waste.

"The harms to the environment humans have inflicted during the past few centuries is much more than 10,000 years of natural history. Are we really becoming stronger or are we blind to see we are becoming weaker?"